Mykonos History

With an area of 86.1 square kilometers, Mykonos, together with Delos, Rhinia and a
few surrounding rocky islets, constitute a single island complex.

According to Greek mythology, there was once a violent clash between the
Olympian Gods and the Giants. Myth has it that Hercules, inevitable ally to the
gods, came face to face with the Giants in Mykonos, where he buried them
under huge rocks. Mykonos’ rocky terrain scattered with immense granite
masses truly seems to have been created during a battle among giants. It is
possible that the island’s name derives from the word mykon, meaning pile of
stones or rocky place. According to another tradition, the “eponymous hero”
of the island is Mykonos, the son of Anios who was the king of Delos at the
time of the Trojan War and was himself the son of Apollo ad the nymph Roio. In
Homer’s time, Mykonos is mentioned in connection to the death and burial of
the hero of the Trojan War, Ajax of Locris.

There are numerous significant testimonials and relics concerning prehistoric
installations on Mykonos and the neighbouring islands – Rhinia, Delos and Stapodia.
Excavations that took place around Ftelia brought to light finds from Neolithic
settlement of the 5th millennium BC, proof that Mykonos was involved in
developments of distant prehistory.

Karias and Phoenicians are said to have been the first inhabitants of Mykonos.
Ionians from Athens settled on the island around 1000 BC and prevailed, driving
away the earlier inhabitants. During the Archaic period (7th to 6th centuries BC),
Mykonos is referred by the ancient geographer Scylax of Caryanda as dipolis,
indicating the existence of two cities. The vase shards and buildings found at
Paleokastro and the Kastro in Hora point out a continuous human presence and
activity at these two locations.

Mykonos emerged unscathed from the tribulations of the Persian Wars and was not
pillaged as were the rest of the Cyclades, not only because the Persian considered
Delos to be a sacred place, but also because the Mykonians submitted to the Persian
conquerors. Following the Persian Wars, Mykonos acceded to the Athenian Alliance
(478 BC). Large tracts of Mykonos belonged to the Sanctuary of Delos and were
rented as farmland.

The destruction, in 69 BC, and the subsequent decline of the Sanctuary of Delos
appears to have adversely affected Mykonos, but as far as the Roman and the Early
Byzantine years are concerned, there is insufficient information concerning the state
of the island. During the Early Post-Christian period, many of the Cyclades has been
severely depopulated or were being used as places of exile for prominent Romans
who have fallen in disfavor.

The settling of Saracens on Crete in AD 821 during the reign of Michael Travlos
impacted the Cyclades, which for many years hence, was plagued by pirate raids. It
was during this period that the fortification works were carried out on Mykonos to
protect the island from Arab pirates. Mykonos continued to be a Byzantine
possession until the late 12th century.

During the reign of the Roman Empire, the island belonged to the Romans and later
formed part of the great Byzantine Empire. The Byzantines protected Mykonos
against the Arabs in the 7th century and controlled it until the 12th century.
When Constantinople fell at the end of the Fourth Crusade (1204), Mykonos was
occupied by the Ghizi overlord, belonging to the extended family of Dandolo, the
Doge of Venice. The Catalans made a short appearance on the island, ransacking it
in the years around 1292, until it was handed to the Venetians in 1390.Under
Venetian domination in 1537, Mykonos was attacked by Barbarossa, the notorious
admiral of Suleiman the Magnificent, and the Ottoman fleet gets installed on the
island.

A situation of self-governing is imposed, supervised by Kapudan Pasha, the head of
the Ottoman fleet, where a governor and a council of “syndics” are appointed, who
always tried to keep a fair balance between the Venetians and Ottomans. The last
Venetians withdrew definitively from the region in 1718, after the castle of Tinos fell in
the hands of the Ottomans.

During the Revolution of 1821, inspired by the island’s heroine, Mando Mavrogenous,
the Mykonians zealously repulsed an attack by a squadron of the Turkish fleet and
participated in the war of independence with four armed ships.

With the birth of the new Greek state, Mykonos witnessed the renaissance of a
dynamic merchant class, which, through its ties to Greeks abroad, developed a
flourishing trade.

However, the complete prevalence of steam technology in the late 19th century, the
opening of the Corinth Canal (1893) and the economic crisis in the Kingdom of
Greece in the 1890s brought about changes in the financial life of the island. That
was when more and more Mykonians began to emigrate, even more during the
World War I and the World War II. Tourism as the answer to the local economy issue
became apparent in the following decades, especially after the important excavations
of the French School of Archeology began in Delos in 1873, bringing to light some
very interesting findings. As early as 1926, cruising ships brought wealthy travelers
from all over the world to the sacred island. They came to visit the antiquities of
Delos, but along the way they discovered and fell under the spell of the sparkling
white, pristine, picturesque island of Mykonos and the smiling, openhearted ,
welcoming Mykonians. Mykonos soon became a cosmopolitan summer retreat,
attracting countless visitors from across the world.

In the post – war years, against the backdrop of the rapid development of the tourist
industry in Southern Europe, Mykonos successfully responded to the new demands
and thanks to the enterprise and the business acumen of its inhabitants, holds one of
the most enviable positions in today’s international tourist market.